Robert Boyle - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

Biography

Robert Boyle was born in a rich and noble family, it was the 7th wire of Richard Boyle, Count de Cork. After studies with the college of Eton, he traversed the Europe 1639 with 1644 and took note of the work of Galileo. He thus learned the purely experimental method which marked all its scientific life. Master of a considerable fortune, it devoted it to the advance of the Natural science; Of return in England, it is established with Oxford. It met Robert Hooke, celebrates physicist who helped it to manufacture a Air pump which Boyle needed for research on gases. It was, in 1645, cofounder of an academy of scientists. Called at the beginning the Invisible College (Invisible Academy), it became the Society then accepted the title of “ royal ” and was renamed Royal Society. Roger Bacon had already noted certain insufficiencies of the Scolastique. Robert Boyle took it as reference of his scientific research: he recommended the Experimental method and itself gave some more the good examples.

As burning friend of the Religion as science, it wrote a great number of works to defend it, and based by its will (1691) an annual reading on the principal truths of the natural Religion and Révélée: it is with this foundation that one owes the treaties of Samuel Clarke, of Richard Bentley, William Derham, etc To its death, the December 30th 1691, Boyle had bequeathed large money sums to organize conferences for the achievement of the Foi Chrétienne against the notorious unbeliefs. Nowadays, these conferences always exist.

Work scientific

One owes him the improvement of the pneumatic machine of Otto von Guericke, the knowledge of the absorption of the air in combustion, and the increase in weight of China blues in the calcination; it moreover gathered a crowd of observations which contributed later to establish solid theories.

During experiments, Boyle discovered the law known as of Boyle-Mariotte (Edme Mariotte discovered it almost at the same time independently of Boyle). The conclusions of Boyle led it to regard the matter as made up of primary particles. It thus rejected the ancient design which said that any matter is formed starting from four elements: ground, air, water and fire. Boyle thus became a precursor with the theory of the atoms on experimental bases. Boyle left its name to a famous smoking liquor of its invention (hydrogenated sulfide of Ammoniaque).

The law of Boyle-Mariotte takes the P₁V₁ form = P₂V₂, where P₁ and V₁ are the pressure and the volume of a gas in an initial state (1), while P₂ and V₂ describe a final state (2) at the same temperature. This law is exact with the case of a perfect gas, and approximate for real gases.

Publications

Its principal works are, in the natural Philosophie:

physicomechanical Experiments on the spring of the air
Considerations on the utility of experimental physics
Treated final causes
the Chemist skeptic
a great number of small treaties on the cold, the colors, the crystals, etc

In the religion:

the Christian naturalist
the Christian Virtuoso
Conciliation of the reason and the religion , etc

Its works forms 5 volumes, folio, London, 1744.

See too

Works of Boyle on line

Works of Boyle digitized by the SCD of the University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg
The Sceptical Chymist University off Pennsylvania Library
Essay one the Virtue off Gems Gem and Diamond Foundation
Experiments Touching Colors Gem and Diamond Foundation
Boyle Papers University off London

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